THE 2025 rugby league season is just months away, and all 36 professional clubs from Super League to League One have been wheeling and dealing to get a settled squad for the year-long battle that awaits them.
Recruitment and retention has been the name of the game for most of 2024, with a whole host of players making transfer moves.
Now, agent Dave Peet from Optimus Sports Management, has given his verdict on four of his players to be ‘dark horses’ in 2025.
“There are some dark horses that will push their names through,” Peet told League Express.
“I think Robson Stevens has a good chance at Featherstone. He was at the Mackay Cutters for two years in Australia and has come back.
“Jordan Williams, who will also be at Featherstone, is a very dark horse. He was at London last year and got injured towards the back end of the season otherwise he would have been in Super League now.
“There’s also Andy Badrock at Leigh. He is a Stockport lad but played his junior rugby at Leigh Miners. He has got the frame, speed and has a good chance of making it.”
But, there is one name that stands out for Peet that all rugby league fans should be looking out for now and in the future.
“The one that will absolutely get himself in the first-grade is Ben Forster at Oldham. There will be no holding him back, if he gets an opportunity he will absolutely kill it.
“He is big, strong, robust and quite smart. If he holds his place in the Oldham team, he will do very well. Ben Forster isn’t far behind George Hirst and he is now at Wigan.”
23-year-old Forster played 23 times for Rochdale Hornets in 2024, earning a move to big-spending Championship newcomers Oldham for 2025.
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